1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method of encapsulating materials by entrapment in a matrix of water-insoluble polyhydroxy polymers and to the compositions prepared thereby.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Prior art methods of encapsulation can be described in two major categories, physicomechanical and chemical. Physicomechanical techniques include the following: spray drying; dipping or centrifuging technique; multiple nozzle spraying; fluidized bed coating; electrostatic microencapsulation; and vacuum encapsulation. The most important chemical encapsulation techniques include simple and complex coacervation and interfacial polymerization. A detailed description of coacervation and the above-mentioned physicomechanical techniques is given in the background of the parent application. The interfacial polymerization method necessitates the use of at least a two-phase system. One of the reactants must be soluble in the continuous phase and insoluble in the discontinuous phase (core material). The other reactant must be insoluble in the continuous phase and soluble in the discontinuous phase. The polymerization reaction occurs at the interface between the two phases forming a polymer shell around the core material, thereby completely enveloping it. This shell must be insoluble in both phases. In this method either phase can be an aqueous system. See U.S. Pat. No. 3,577,515 and 3,575,882 and British Pat. No. 1,163,023.
The above encapsulation methods are multistep processes which require carefully controlled conditions or special equipment. They are time consuming and expensive, often requiring elevated temperatures and pressures other than ambient; and they all require at least a two-phase system. Many require expensive, toxic, and flammable solvents which must be recovered. Coacervation is limited to the encapsulation of oils in materials which have the capacity to form gels. Interfacial polymerization techniques, also requiring two or more phases, are limited essentially to expensive synthetic polymerization systems, many of which are petrochemicals and which generally produce nonbiodegradable polymers. To make these systems more economical and to prevent ecological contamination, unreacted monomers must be recovered. The only system that appears to be useful for coating solid particles is the fluidized bed technique.